Biography

Calum MacLean (Calum Iain Aonghais) was born in 1882 at 17 Habost, Ness, on the Isle of Lewis.

He spent most of his life sailing, except for the five years he was a prisoner of the Germans during World War II, after the boat in which he worked as a lamp trimmer was sunk by a German raider, the Pinguin, in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles west of Fremantle, Australia. The ship was the Maimoa, belonging to Shaw Savill. She was about 10,000 tons and about 20 years old. There were tens of men from Ness in the crew, some older but also some who were very young and on their first voyage. When the Maimoa was captured on 20 November 1940, the crew was taken off the ship and held for two weeks by the raider. After that, they were put aboard a tanker captured by the Germans. The men from Ness were among the 500 prisoners on the ship, and there were only facilities for a crew of 40. They were held captive for 11 weeks before landing in Bordeaux, France, on 5 February 1941, dirty, hungry, parched and exhausted, and with their families not knowing if they were alive or dead.

On BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, recalling those terrible weeks locked up most of the time in the hold of the tanker, Angus MacLean (Aonghas Ruadh a' Bhodaich) from Ness told of his memories of Calum Iain Aonghais:

"No one was more downbeat than Calum Iain Aonghais. He was the eldest. The young men did not realise the severity of the situation. Calum took it all in on the spot: 'Well, I am here until the end of the war.' The young men didn't grasp this. They didn't understand it, but Calum fully understood it."

However, Calum had his own way of coping with the situation, as Angus said:

"John and I made a bed out of a piece of rope and Calum, feeling the cold, came to join us in the bed. Calum had nothing to say but 'well, well' anyway, and when the lights went out, they would sing songs, especially the English, keeping people awake. Calum had nothing to say all night but 'well, well'. That's the best memory I have of Calum."

In Bordeaux they were put on a train to Germany and eventually arrived at the camps where they would remain until they were liberated at the end of April 1945. He had a good memory of that day:

"When I was signing my name in Germany, I was behind Calum Iain Aonghais, and he was 'Malcolm MacLean' and I was 'Angus MacLean'. They asked me if he was my father. 'Well,' I said, 'almost. He acts like a father to me here anyway.' And he was. He was just like a father to us."

Calum Iain Aonghais was married to Màiri Dais from Lionel and their home was at 84 Cross Skigersta. They had five children, including Calum who was a bard and wrote the famous song Deireadh Fòrladh in 1940.

Very little poetry by Calum Iain Aonghais survives today. Besides Mo Rìbhinn Dhonn, we are only certain about one other Gaelic song he wrote. In Òran a' Bhàta Calum teases his neighbours:

An cual sibh mun iùbhrach,
Bha triùir innt' às a' bhaile seo
Dh'fhalbh i à Port Gòrdan
Gu seòladh na marannan;
Gun solas geal no uaine,
Gun luaidhe ga chleachdadh innt'
'S cha robh guth air combaist
No cunntas air latitude.

Air navigation cha robh sùil
Air rùlaichean cha shealladh iad
Nam faighte bùrn is gual air bòrd
Is còcaireachd bho na ceannaichean;
Briosgaid chruaidh is ìm is feòil
Bòtannan is canabhas
Gun càireadh iad seòl ruadh rithe
Gu tuath mar a laigheadh i.

Calum died in 1965, aged 83.

List of compositions

Mo Rìbhinn Dhonn Gur Trom Tha Mi